March 26, 2008

The primary reason we went to Bandung is for Rock Climbing. We heard from so many climbers that Bandung is Indonesia's best and biggest climbing area.

We spent our 3 nights in Bali World Hotel.

Rock climbing area is in Citatah. The exact place is out of the Town of Bandung. It’s about 1 until 1 ½ hour from Bandung.There were three cliffs for Rock Climbing in Citatah. The names are Citatah 125, Citatah 90, and Citatah 48. But now only two cliffs are climbable . Citatah 125 and Citatah 48. Citatah 90 is not climbable because the villagers are mining the limestone in the cliffs.

The First DayWe flew to Bandung in the afternoon, and we arrived around 6 pm. By the time we got there is the time for dinner. So we’re went to one of the famous places in Bandung, Kampung Daun. It’s little far, but it was worth it, because they have a very nice view, and the food was excellent…

The second dayOur second day in Bandung. We’re ready to go rock climbing. We only knew that the name of the area is Citatah, but not the specific area, we didn't know where. It’s took another half an hour to find the cliff. Actually wasn't that hard …, because on the on the side ways we saw cliffs.With numerous cliffs around, we just had to ask where the climbing area is.Then we found the cliff and it’s Citatah 48. It was a nice cliff. The routes were short, but the bolts were good.

From this cliff we can saw the view around the cliff

To respect the locals and their religion,We climbed only one route. The climbers here are Muslims and Friday is a day pf worship.

Citatah 125 located around 400 meters before Citatah 48. and it’s higher than Citatah 48. and some of people said that it’s more difficult than Citatah 48.

In Both Cliff we found other climbers. Most were excited to see new faces, and almost everyone took an interest in the foreign climber.

At Citatah 125, I learned something new, trad climbing. I learned about cams, nuts, and other clean protection. I got to clean my first trad pitch, a fun 5.9 face climb.This, so far, has been the easiest route I ever cllimbed. It’s kind of fun not struggling the whole way.

Around :003 pm we went home and decided to climb again the next morning.We spent the rest of the day with Shopping around Bandung.

The Third DayWe’re back again to Citatah, But this time we decided to climb the little one (Citatah 48).We wanted to climb around 4 or 5 routes that day, but my climbing partner hurt his back, so we only climbed two routes that day.Because it’s only my partner and me, I couldn't take any pictures there.After we climb that day, decided to get some shopping done, before heading home the next day.We had an early morning flight, so we needed to go to bed early.

Taman Safari is not an ordinary zoo. Unlike the usual zoos, the animals are free to roam and the people have to remain in their car for safety.If we want to see the animals in Taman Safari, you have to go around the park by car. It’s almost like going around in the jungle.

We spent almost one full day in Taman Safari.

We looked around and stopped in some areas, and we took a lot of photos.